Police across Canada are presenting cases as human trafficking in their news releases, but it’s often just a crackdown on sex workers and their clients. In some cases, police framed child exploitation, drug trafficking, property crimes and firearms offences as human trafficking.
Some clues that a news release may be misleading:
- No human trafficking charges
- Prostitution charges or other charges laid
- Canada Border Services Agency involvement
- No victims or the assumption that all sex workers are victims
See the full resource for a detailed breakdown of these topics.
Learn more about Canada’s prostitution laws and anti-trafficking laws and why conflating sex work with trafficking is harmful to sex workers.
Learn more about Canada’s prostitution laws and anti-trafficking laws and why conflating sex work with trafficking is harmful to sex workers.
1 Millar, H., O’Doherty, T. ,& Roots, K. (2017). A Formidable Task: Reflections on Obtaining Legal Empirical Evidence on Human Trafficking in Canada. Anti-Trafficking Review, 8, 34-49.